Dabbawal High Bridge — Restaurant in Newcastle upon Tyne

I'm gonna be a bit harsh with this review purely because I've worked in restaurants for years and I know how rare it is to get a chef and kitchen staff as talented as those at Dabbawal.

The food was almost unfaultable, I had the chefs choice and it was all excellent. And the gentlemen who was mainly running food was also doing a brilliant job describing meals and being prompt. It's just a shame that the service left a sour taste. I'm not a 'karen'. I very rarely care about the quality of service as long as they are polite, I usually judge on the food, but in this case it feels like they had little to no management or structure.

I walked in at a bit after 5, was greeted and seated by one gentlemen then had my drink order taken and given pappadoms and chutney, great start. As the restaurant got busier however the staff seemingly panicked, this is not a large restaurant yet i counted at least 6-7 front of house staff. I want to clear up, I do not think any of the staff were rude, they just seemed to have no direction or structure with little to no communication.

Staff constantly walked in and out of the different areas almost as if trying to find something to do, staring down customers, multiple tables around me including myself were asked for drink orders 2 or 3 times even if they had already made one only a minute or two prior and the same with food orders. One table next to me asked one lady for the pre show menu which she said was not offered on Sunday nights, while at the same time I was passed the pre-show menu by a different server. Another table near me had glasses and an open bottle of red brought out after they had already received their bottle. Another had all their cutlery dropped by (who i assume was) the manager as he was clearing their table. One server had an iPad for taking orders, others had note books. The tables around me started chuckling together because even though 4 different staff members would poke their head in and look around every 10 minutes, none of us could even get bottles of water which really should be offered as you're seated. A man on the table next to me had to chase after a staff member to ask for extra naan. As 3 tables around me who got their food after me paid their checks, I put my card on the table so my server could see I was ready to pay. 30 minutes passed of me trying to politely get someone's attention before one of the ladies came up to me and asked me if there was something wrong. I said no I'm ready to pay. She quickly brought out my cheque and said I had to go up to the bar and pay as the eftpos did not reach to where I was sitting. That's fine, it would however have been nice to have been told this 30 minutes before when I had finished my meal.

Again, individually, these are all fine mistakes, servers are people and there's nothing wrong with that. The fundamental issue here is that no one seemed to have set jobs. Everyone was taking orders for food and drink, taking out meals, making drinks, clearing food, setting tables, bringing cheques. And in a restaurant like this it becomes a very impersonal experience. It would be much better to give tables individual servers to take care of them all night, that allows the servers to relax and focus on an area of the restaurant rather than check every table and for the customers to become acquainted with the staff.

Overall, I loved the food, but the restaurant felt chaotic and like a fast food shop where I was fed fast and expected to leave. I was only in Newcastle for the day, and honestly I wouldn't come back despite the...

I assume this Indian restaurant "Dabbalwal" pays homage to the famous "Dabbawalas", a respected tiffin delivery service offered in Bombay only. But much like its name, the food served there is also incomplete. The next thing we learnt about this restaurant is that their menu is like your local political party's manifesto- what is written on it isn't necessarily what is delivered.

For example - we ordered a Mixed Veggie Grill, which in its description reads "Spiced grilled seasonal vegetables with Indian cottage cheese". The spices were elusive in taste. The dish contained mainly grilled onions and accidentally a tiny flower of brocoli and half a flower of cauliflower fell onto the plate. But as the menu suggests, we did get the Indian cottage cheese- a singular, lonesome, and shy piece of paneer, hidden behind the wealth of grilled onions.

The next giant surprise was when we ordered another tapas dish (because clearly 4 tapas dishes we tried weren't enough for two grown adults). The dish "Sweet Potato Chaat" which describes as "Roasted cubes of sweet potato". It was fried, not roasted. And there isn't a single spread of Chaat masala or any spice to give it a title of a Chaat. This dish can basically make your local pub's chips feel like heaven. But to be fair, the manager didn't charge us for that dish as we expressed our concern about it.

At least by the end of the night, we were crying with laughter when we got the bill. Because the words "LOL" and "CHT" aren't what you find in your usual wetherspoons bill do you? P.S- "CHT" is a slang in Hindi. You would've thought an Indian restaurant would have covered such issues, but I...

I was there last year and rather not willing to come back in the nearest future. Busy, crowded and loud place. Not much space between tables.

Waiters were checking constantly on our table and that would be great but they didn't do it in the subtle way (having a look from a small distance to avoid interrupting), instead they would come quickly directly to our table, every time that made me think they want to say something to us etc so I would stop talking and waited what they needed from us again but they just checked the table and left. It was a constant interruption. I can only assume they acted like that because the place crowded and there were other waiters on the way and it would be difficult to see our table from behind other waiters back...

One of the waiters kept ignoring me and kept talking only to my boyfriend, even when I asked question about the dish he would turn to my boyfriend and explain things to him.

When I asked for a bill (it was my treat and I was paying) the same waiter brought the bill and put it right in front of my boyfriend too far for me to reach it, instead on the neutral spot in the middle of the table like decent restaurants in XXI century do. It felt disrespecting. We were celebrating my work success on that day but the treatment I kept receiving in the restaurant from that one waiter took it partially away from me.

I also received cool dish but it was quickly fixed, I was apologised, no grudge here. The food was tasty, that's all I remember. Other waiters/waitresses acted nice and more professional and interaction with them...